Barbara Corcoran — who founded her namesake real estate brokerage in 1978 (which she sold in 2001 for roughly $66 million and which closed $6.29 billion in sales last year) — says she owes her success to a cocktail of tenacity and lucky breaks.

Example? When she learned that an elderly artist wanted to sell his dream home in the Saltaire neighborhood of Fire Island, following a damaging nor’easter, she didn’t hesitate. “I asked his relatives what they wanted for the house,” the “Shark Tank” star tells Alexa. “I paid $75,000 for it on the spot and moved in early April 1994. I almost froze my kid to death!” (Similar Fire Island homes now trade for millions.)

More than two decades later, Corcoran (who recently debuted “Business Unusual,” a new podcast on iHeartRadio) is a seasoned Fire Islander who’s fully embraced the enclave’s chilled-out, devil-may-care spirit. The 69-year-old bikes, swims and shares plates of fresh oysters with her husband and two children when she’s there — but keeps only two T-shirts and some cut-off shorts on hand. “It’s enough clothes for the whole season,” she says, adding that she actively shuns “the busy, status-filled life” of the Hamptons.

“On Fire Island, there’s nowhere to go and nothing to do. Life is simple and you can wholeheartedly share your time with your family.”